Afghanistan to Release 37 Prisonerd from Bagram
Local Editor
Afghanistan declared it plans to release a first group of suspected Taliban militants held in Bagram prison within two weeks. Washington expressed concerns over the decision by Kabul.
37 from the Bagram jail prisoners would be freed soon, said on Monday Abdul Shukur Dadras, from the government body reviewing the detainees.
"Their dossiers are reviewed, completed and we have ordered their release," Dadras told AFP.
He added that the inmates will leave the prison "after the required technical and security procedures are completed. This will, I think, take more than one week and less than two weeks."
On January 9, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of 72 prisoners held at Parwan Detention Center, a jail at the US-run Bagram Air Base north of the capital, Kabul.
The decision angered Washington, which called the prisoners "dangerous insurgents" who had "Afghan blood on their hands."
Dadras also went on to say that the officials are reviewing the cases of the remaining prisoners.
The release comes as the US and Afghanistan are still at conflict over a bilateral security deal.
Source: AFP, edited by website team
